Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 29, 2024, 06:38:19 pm

Login with username, password and session length


Members
  • Total Members: 37614
  • Latest: bondann
Stats
  • Total Posts: 772963
  • Total Topics: 66312
  • Online Today: 741
  • Online Ever: 5484
  • (June 18, 2021, 11:15:29 pm)
Users Online
Users: 0
Guests: 166
Total: 166

Welcome


Welcome to the POZ Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and others concerned about HIV/AIDS.  Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning:  Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

  • The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own physician.

  • All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

  • Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators of these forums. Click here for “Do I Have HIV?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ community forums.

  • We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are true and correct to their knowledge.

  • Product advertisement—including links; banners; editorial content; and clinical trial, study or survey participation—is strictly prohibited by forums members unless permission has been secured from POZ.

To change forums navigation language settings, click here (members only), Register now

Para cambiar sus preferencias de los foros en español, haz clic aquí (sólo miembros), Regístrate ahora

Finished Reading This? You can collapse this or any other box on this page by clicking the symbol in each box.

Author Topic: Career change???  (Read 4432 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline otherplaces

  • Member
  • Posts: 398
  • Mutant Super Hero
Career change???
« on: July 23, 2006, 10:30:39 pm »

Not sure if this is the right place to post this topic, but it doesn't really mesh with the other forums either.

I've been thinking and thinking about a career change.  Probably going back to school.

I've spent the last 8 years working as a musician as well as doing computer work part-time (I have an undergrad in music performance).  I'd just pool it all together every month and try and pay my bills.  I still have no idea how I've done this for so long as it has always been financially difficult.  I was already experiencing alot of dismay in music when I was diagnosed with HIV.  I guess I just couldn't continue the struggle in music when faced with such a huge health and life change that HIV presents. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and change my mind about this as I can't stop loving music, but have definitely stopped playing music.

Anyway, if one were to want to seek a career in HIV/AIDS services or policy what would they study? The people who work at UNAIDS or the Clinton Foundation...what are their expertise?  Or all these ASO's...what do these people study?  I imagine social work is one obvious answer, but then I just run out of answers on what I need to look into.  A Public Policy degree? Political Science???

I'd like to just get involved and see where it might take me, but working six days a week puts a pretty serious time crunch on me.  I'm afraid a major shift may be what it comes down to.  And dropping some work and becoming a student again might be what it takes.

I've tried to search the net for answers but have gotten nowhere.  I know some of you can paint me a clear picture and give me something to think about.

Many thanks for your help.

brian


Offline aztecan

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,530
  • 36 years positive, 64 years a pain in the butt
Re: Career change???
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2006, 11:10:59 am »
Hey Brian,

Been there, glad I did that!  ;D

I made a complete careeer change, albeit unplanned, when I was 47 years old. Scary, but I don't regret it a bit.

I would check around and ask at your local ASO to see what it is they look for in case managers, or whatever position about which you are curious.

I was a reporter/editor for nearly 18 years. At first, I loved the work, but the more corporate it became, the less fun it was.

Finally, the paper I worked for was bought out by Gannett, which also publishes USA Today.

Long story short, after 16 years, I was given the boot, as was the publisher and editor. Now, only a few people remain who worked there a scant two years ago.

Anyway, after a few false starts in other fields, I started working as a case manager for an ASO here in Northwest New Mexico. All I had was a bachelor's degree in journalism. They usually look for someone with a social work or social services degree, but they were desperate because nobody wanted the rural areas.

I love it! It is crazy, frustrating, rewarding and challenging.

I hope this helps a little.

HUGS,

Mark
« Last Edit: July 24, 2006, 11:13:35 am by aztecan »
"May your life preach more loudly than your lips."
~ William Ellery Channing (Unitarian Minister)

Offline otherplaces

  • Member
  • Posts: 398
  • Mutant Super Hero
Re: Career change???
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2006, 08:28:06 pm »

Mark,

Thanks for your advice and perspective. This is definitely one area I want to look into.

Still wondering about these larger global organizations like UNAIDS and NGO's. Anyone know where I can find info on the kind of expertise needed for these sort of organizations?

brian


Offline lydgate

  • Member
  • Posts: 1,022
  • Virgin, can't drive
Re: Career change???
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2006, 09:15:14 pm »
Another graduate degree worth considering is the MPH  -- Master's in Public Health. Interdisciplinary, allowing flexibility in choosing a concentration, planning a career. Here are links to a famous MPH program, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health:

http://www.jhsph.edu/academics/degreeprograms/mph/

http://www.jhsph.edu/academics/degreeprograms/mph/prospective_students/concentrations.html

Of course, this is just one suggestion.

Jay
Her finely-touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

George Eliot, Middlemarch, final paragraph

Offline JR Gabbard

  • Member
  • Posts: 283
  • Union Jacks
Re: Career change???
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2006, 10:21:26 pm »
Hey Brian--

   The best advice I ever got on this issue was:  Follow your bliss.  Figure out what makes you the happiest, and go for that.  Most ASO jobs don't require much specialized training, just a lot of compassion.  You will probably be able to pick up what skills you need on the job.

   Also, contact the HR departments at the organizations you mentioned (UNAIDS and Clinton Found.) and ask them what they are looking for in an employee, and what jobs they hire for.  HR people are usually willing to give an informational interview.

   If you are on Social Security, you might be able to get funding for your education through a PASS plan.  Talk to your local SSA office.

   I've worked in the area for a while now, and it can be very rewarding.

Best of luck,

J.R.
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth,
The minor fall, the major lift,
The baffled king composing Hallelujah!

L. Cohen

Offline otherplaces

  • Member
  • Posts: 398
  • Mutant Super Hero
Re: Career change???
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2006, 03:41:19 pm »

Thanks Jay and JR for your suggestions.

I've got some research to do.

take care,
brian


 


Terms of Membership for these forums
 

© 2024 Smart + Strong. All Rights Reserved.   terms of use and your privacy
Smart + Strong® is a registered trademark of CDM Publishing, LLC.